>    It shouldn't surprise anyone that selection of bees for tracheal mite
>    resistance, in its detail, is not as simple as indicated by a summary.
<snip>
>    The conclusion?
>    Tracheal mite resistance is available to be selected in the bees in
>    North America.
>
>     Natural selection will eventually cause the North American bee
>    population to become resistant. A selection program based on new bee
>    marking and retrieval can speed the process (artificial insemination
>    too, although we didn't use it). Too radical a selction might unduly
>    reduce the beneficial variation in stocks, so I wouldn't advocate
>    everyone getting or even aiming at, one best stock.
>
>    Of course there will be deceptive advertising, and also honest mistakes.
 
Thanks for the great post Kerry.  I notice Paul had a good one in
here too.
 
While I agree with you,  I think that dealing in terms of resistance is only
looking at one side of the coin.  There are two organisms here and
pathology is a product of inconclusive negotions for symbiosis. We've
picked our favourite horse in this race, but we shouldn't ignore the
other entry.
 
Excessive mortality in the host benefits neither the bee nor the mite.  While
the bee, by selection - natural and supervised - becomes more tolerant
of the mite, should we also realise that the mite population must be
variable and that some strains of the mite may well be much more
benign - and even beneficial if they compete successfully for hosts
with more harmful variants of the same parasite.
 
This is one of several reasons that I am reluctant to treat for TM,
even though I have evidence that we have been visited by these
creatures for some years now.  Perhaps they are beneficial in
eliminating less vigorous varieties of bees from my outfit? What if
my treatment kills of the more sensible mites and leaves the nasty
ones?
 
Maybe that is going too far, but who else would argue on the mite's behalf?
 
I spoke with my friend Mr. G. from Saskatchewan some time back and
he said that in the typical case, an outfit would take a big hit
from the mite initially and then, if rebuilt from itself, would soon
have fairly low losses in wintering (This is when the mite does its
dirty work in the north)
 
Now I remember how parasites work.  Not just parasites actually -
critters generally: one year in Ontario (maybe in the 50's) I can recall the
highway from Sturgeon Falls to North Bay being *literally* greasy with tent
caterpillars.  Every seven years or so, they strip the trees at our
cottage in Port Carling.  Out here in the west, we have 'mouse years'
when the mouse population peaks and the country stinks of dead mice.
 
This is what scares me, and it's the reason I bought a 'scope.  I
don't want to stop the mites from taking the weakest colony in each
yard - it doesn't pay.  I just worry that they will have a good year
and take everything.
 
I'm itching to hear what Andy has to say on this.  He's been pretty
quiet lately.
 
Supper has been called.  I must go.
 
Later
Regards
 
Allen
 
W. Allen Dick, Beekeeper                                         VE6CFK
RR#1, Swalwell, Alberta  Canada T0M 1Y0  Internet:[log in to unmask]
Honey. Bees, Art, & Futures <http://www.cuug.ab.ca:8001/~dicka>